Heads or Tails? Stop Thinking and Ask Your Body!

Decisions to make?  Stop thinking and ask your body!

You’re in your favorite yoga class, in one of your least favorite poses, maybe revolved triangle (lol) and the teacher wanders off to help another student and you’re left dangling there, thinking ‘hello-o, we’re still here-er’.  And all sorts of interesting thoughts and body sensations begin to pop up – what to do?

Do you push through, or do you release? Do you take the path of least resistance or put your head to the grindstone? Do you follow the path of your wisdom or the path of your conditioning?

Whether it’s during a yoga pose, or deciding to move across the country, everyday you are faced with choices to make.  Many of them are so small, one hardly notices; but some are life changing and can overwhelm us.

So I’m curious, do you have a system or something that helps you make big decisions?

I had to make a decision a couple weeks ago that would affect several people – and my mind & body were getting more and more anxious over the decision – worried about disappointing others, feeling I had failed. I had to go through the process of deciding – do I push through? Or do I release to a different possibility?

One of the techniques I’ve learned is to feel the energy of potential choices. Write down Option 1 and announce it out loud, then pay close attention, is your body in agreement? Do you feel more calm and settled or more anxious?

Then try it again with Option 2.  Announce Yes, I will or No, I won’t.  Feel it, own it and then listen to your body’s response.

This strategy led to me make what I am confident was the best choice – because my body told me so.

The Yoga Sutra’s classic definition of yoga is Yogash chitta vritti nirodhah. Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations or whirlings of the mind.  Using the technique above, the act of moving my awareness into sensing and feeling -relieved me from my chatter and gave me the answer I needed. My body expressed release and calm, with one choice and angst and discomfort with the other choice. I went with the release and calm – whew!

And this is what you practice in yoga! You put yourself into mini stressful situations called asanas, and in real time, do the work of noticing – your breath, your ability to support yourself. You start to notice when you are performing versus exploring, you notice when you are truly present in your life. This is yoga in real time!

If this approach to yoga interests you, you are invited to become part of a passionate group of yogis, who are boldly stepping into their lives, armed with tools of awarenss, breath and movement.